Fiscal 2018 Deficit Through June

The chart below compares the U.S. government monthly deficit for Fiscal 2018 with 2017. Nine months into the current fiscal year, which ends September 30, 2018, the government has overspent by $607 billion. The government expects to overspend by another $186 billion over the next three months.

At this rate, the government is overspending by an average of $66 billion every month. A couple of decades ago, the U.S. government overspent by less than $66 billion each year, and back then, key Congressional leaders were pushing hard to reign in federal spending. Today, Congress will spend another $50-100 billion without even blinking an eye.

Why do you think our attitude towards spending billions more than the government collects each year has changed over the past few decades?